Friday, September 30, 2011

Non-non-trivial news

Commuting via the same old route each day can get a bit dull. Therefore even a tiniest change in the environment provides excitement. (Or at least filler material for this blog. You know, the internet is not complete yet, it needs more detailed information.)

Consider this spectacular event for example:

One day, when it was windy, there was a fallen tree on my route.I got to carry my bike over the obstacle cyclo-cross-style, then brag about it in the workplace coffee table.

Then again, not long after that, in almost exactly the same location, a P"N"WD Special Urgent Hazard Prevention Enforcement Task Force Squad Crew (or a P"N"WD SUHPETFSC for short) had prevented a potential hazard by urgently painting these markings on the road:

Apparently, bicyclists confused by the sudden metamorphosis of the bicycle path into a road without an accompanying bicycle path, and therefore riding on the sidewalk, have been a huge problem here. Or, alternatively, pedestrians walking too confidently from the sidewalk to the bicycle path were the problem. Anyway, the problem has been now solved.

By the way, you've got to appreciate the liberal application of paint here. Or did somebody just spill a bucket here? Or even worse, did a crew member think that the white stuff may have intoxicating qualities, consumed some, and then barfed all over the location? Perhaps we'll never know, but at least this marking will endure for a long time.

I'm not so sure of this stretch of pavement some metres further though:

The asphalt seems to be rapidly turning into cobblestones here. I kind of wish that the SUHPETFSC has this thing on their TODO list as well, as they seem pretty efficient at preventing hazardous situations by improving the infrastructure.

What else? Oh yeah, I nearly flattened a squirrel today. A live one. I was going down a steep downhill in the central park at a considerable speed, when a squirrel, initially calmly squirreling away on the side of the path, decided to cross it a split-second before I was about to pass him. He made it. A couple of weeks ago I did flatten a bidon in the Tour de Helsinki 2011 in a rather similar situation, though. I guess this proves that squirrels are faster than bidons.